He's my Charles to my Caroline...

Our blog started out with the title, "Witherspoon Wilderness" which wasn't exactly what we were looking for, but you have to title it something.  I have since mixed and matched a play on my love of the television show, "Little House on the Prairie" and our new adventure of life on our 72 acres.  Charles built his family their house and Robert's building ours.

Our first thought when we knew we'd live in our trailer initially was to wall in part of a metal building to expand our living space.  A month and a half ago it occurred to me (out of the blue) that it might be fun to build a small cottage. The 'cottage' now is fully framed and has magically turned into our, 'Little House' on our 72 acres.  What an amazing experience, hard to express in a blog, how much of this experience so far has enriched our lives.  I'd like to point out that I've always referred to it as, 'our cottage' you have to know me to understand how I like to put a twist of my style on things around me.  Robert's building plan came from a garage and shed magazine.  It's 1200 sqft and with some clever spacing of walls - we will have three bedrooms, an enclosed laundry/fridge space, sitting room open to the kitchen, den/office space, 1.5 bathrooms and a tv/study room on the upstairs landing and a small wood stove on the main floor.  I'm starting to quickly sense our 'Little House' is my dream house.  I'm smiling about this, because there are many beautiful houses, but building this alongside my husband with our children's help has been a once in a life time experience that I wouldn't trade for anything.

We are truly blessed.  I think what amazes me more is that our lives are better than living a dream and to realize that is such a gift each day.  (side note: oh sure we have our off days, moments and they can get creatively interesting when you mix a Bud with a Darlin' - our names for eachother)

Photos....

Audrey hard at work

building the foundation

Keeping things level...

Audrey the builder

Bud building a strong foundation

A little touch of me during the building process

FIRST WALL FRAMED UP!

Jack learning to use a nail gun.

Robert hand made the floor beams for the second floor - impressive and cost effective to boot!

floor beams up and nailed down

My french doors opening!

second floor framing

Crazy man did this with winds around 30-40 miles/hr and by himself - raising the center beam with no help - of course I could have helped, but would Charles have had Caroline out there in those conditions, apparently not.  

This process required rope and nailed boards to hold each end as he inched it up from one side to the other....love this man!

crazy man who can do almost anything

FIRST MOMENT he patted himself on the back, yelled for me to come out and take photos and was smiling!  Way to go, Bud - you think this was recognized feat, I wish you could watch you through my eyes and see you build this from the beginning and you'd see why you're my hero.

As you can see some of the roof rafters are up and the sun is rising, why is this.....oh because my work horse of a husband started in the dark.......dedication is who he is.....I suppose this posting is a tribute to Robert Lee Witherspoon and why our children are so happy and why I'd live just about anywhere with him.  

blue skies, but windy days

First time we let the children up on the second landing, first landing if you're British reading this.

Stay tuned...........(smile)